At least two bills introduced recently in Vermont (S.199, H.527) propose to remove parental consent and decision-making power when it comes to our children’s medical choices. Denying a public education to a child as a means to coerce parents into injecting their children in the absence of a life-threatening health crisis is clearly not the right answer.

Oddly, supporters of the bills have been quoting numbers from CDC national calculations, which factor in vaccines that Vermont does not even require, making our results look far worse than they actually are. When measuring against Vermont’s own requirements, we should all be proud, not fearful of one another, over vaccination rates for vaccines we do not require in our state.

Given that vaccines have known risks, and that manufacturers and doctors are free from liability (National Childhood Injury Act of 1986), it seems only prudent to continue the philosophical exemption. Let us know the facts before we allow media (driven by a $20 billion U.S. vaccine market) to divide our community with undue fear mongering.